The smart money predicts that the film Lincoln will sweep the Oscars. Where Hollywood goes, so will go the nation. Here are six lessons general counsel can learn from the 16th president.
No. 1: Mission over ego. Necessity, not vanity, drove Lincoln’s decision-making during the Civil War. Check out this dramatic passage from David Von Drehle’s book, Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year. General George B. McClellan commanded the Union’s Army of the Potomac. He was young, arrogant and disrespectful to the president. Once, he even insulted Lincoln and an aide by leaving them, unacknowledged, in his living room, while striding past them to his upstairs bedroom for the night.
